Potty-mouthed Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is due for another scolding from his wife (and probably the Conservative Party) after he jokingly used a four-letter word during a CBC interview when asked if his mouth was getting him in trouble.

It was probably less a verbal slip than a strategically planned trial balloon. It’s fairly obvious when an unplanned four-letter word escapes a politician’s lips; Justin Trudeau calling then-environment minister Peter Kent a “piece of s—t” during a 2011 exchange in the House of Commons is one example. Government House leader Peter Van Loan allegedly dropping f-bombs during a heated exchange with NDP leader Tom Mulcair on the House floor in 2012 is another. And pretty much every time Toronto mayor Rob Ford drops a curse word, it’s clear it was driven by impulse, not strategy.

I’d be surprised if there wasn’t at least a little forethought to Trudeau’s Saturday f-bomb. Since he became Liberal leader last year, Trudeau has done an exceptional job of presenting himself as the anti-Harper

Trudeau appeared on George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight on Tuesday [although it was shot in late March, prior to the weekend’s F-bomb at a charity boxing match], and made the comment after he paused to think about a question.

“Um… [exaggerated sigh], s—, what do I say?” Trudeau said with a laugh, when the show’s host asked if he needed to filter his words as a candidate for prime minister.

Trudeau was responding to a clip of former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, who said that he was not free to say what he wanted when he was a politician.

Trudeau, who has been leader of the Liberal Party for almost a year and is leading in the polls, said that he talks through his own personality, not through political strategy.

“That’s part of the challenge but it is also part of the opportunity. For me, I’ve always been Justin Trudeau, son of. All my life I’ve had to know I was carrying a name and people were paying more attention to what I had to say and I had to make a choice early on. Do I have a private, secret life or do I live fairly openly and consistently with the person I am?” he said.

“Now that I am in politics…I have to decide, what’s more important: That I always say exactly the perfect, right thing and it’s scripted and controlled? Or do I trust that my values are the right ones and are therefore going to see me through.”

During the chummy interview with the future face of Hockey Night in Canada, Trudeau defended his booting of a Liberal candidate and his proposed marijuana policy.

“Open nominations means it is local Liberals who choose who gets to be their representative. But what that doesn’t mean is that somebody can behave any which way and bully other people out of the nomination and then be the last person standing,” he said.

“If Rob Ford decided he wanted to run for the Liberal Party in 2015, we’d say, ‘No, sorry, the way you approach things, the way you govern, the way you behave is not suitable to the kind of Liberal team we want to build.”

Trudeau also defended his plan to legalize pot.

“Our current approach is not working. We need to control and regulate and protect our kids,” he said.

The Liberal leader was criticized by the PMO for his “lack of judgment” when he unleashed the public F-bomb Saturday night, but Trudeau said it was his wife that he was more concerned with.

“If you had seen the scolding that Sophie gave me, you would have wished you’d used a different adjective as well,” he said Monday.

Trudeau’s use of HBO-style language in public is hardly a new affair. Most famously, he called then-environment minister Peter Kent a “piece of shit” in the House of Commons in 2011.

Of course, it’s not the Liberal leader’s fault, as he grew up in a home (24 Sussex to be specific) with a father figure also known for his penchant for colourful language.

Former prime minister Pierre Trudeau added the word “fuddle duddle” to the Canadian lexicon in 1971 after he was accused of mouthing another F-word at Progressive Conservative MPs in the House. He claimed he only said “fuddle duddle” and complained the MPs were “crying to mama.”